Test operation of microwave-assisted chemical looping gasification for water hyacinth with a lean iron ore as oxygen carrier

Abstract

Chemical looping gasification has been considered as a promising biomass energy conversion technology for syngas production. In this work, a novel microwave-assisted chemical looping gasification (MACLG) reactor system is applied to water hyacinth with a lean iron ore as the oxygen carrier (OC). This approach is expected to achieve effective gasification performance with fast heating and small temperature fluctuation. MACLG can promote the proportion of syngas to 74.39%, lower heating value to 11.83 MJ/Nm3 and cold gasification efficiency to 80.94%. In addition, the increase of OC has a great effect on the conversion of water hyacinth. Favorable gasification performance, including total gas yield, H2/CO ratio, carbon conversion efficiency, and OC reactivity, can be achieved when the molar ratio of Fe2O3/C is in the range of 0.25–0.50. Furthermore, a moderate temperature is also vital for reaction effect. With a temperature of 900 °C, the highest H2/CO ratio of 1.37 of syngas is obtained.